TARFU: LaBrada Nutrition Financed Study Finds no Effect of Super Charge Xtreme N.O. on Training Induced Increases in Muscle Size. Minor Effects on 1RM Max.

As mentioned in previous blogposts, I highly credit all supplement companies which - instead of just putting out untenable claims about the "steroid-like" effects of their products - spend a few bucks of their immense marketing budgets on research on how fantastic their products actually are. In the case of LaBrada Nutrition's Super Charge Xtreme N.O. it does yet seem that it would have been wiser to do some research before formulating their new "NO booster".

Other than the guys over at LaBrada Nutrition probably have hoped or even expected, the study (JSCR. 2011) that was published in the March issue of the well-known Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found no "significant improvements in LBM over the placebo drink" and only minor increases in bench press 1RM and squat power, which may well be attributed to CNS stimulation due to the hefty 450mg load of caffeine each serving of Super Charge Xtreme N.O. contains.

Other than that, the "15 physically active, resistance trained, college age (19.5 +/- 0.269 yr) males" in the placebo group attained the same changes in body weight, body [as measured via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)] and maximal strength in the rest of the 8 different exercises of their 3-day/week exercise regimen:

A main effect for time was identified for each of the 1RM strength measures tested (p<0.05) except biceps curls (p = 0.34). [....] Significant main effects were found for lean body mass (F1/22 = 20.32, p<0.001), but there were no significant group x time interactions for changes in LBM (F1/22 = 0.142 p = 0.710).

But let's be honest. Did you still believe an NO booster will improve your gains? I, for my part, take them for the feeling of being pumped up. And although I have not yet had the chance to test this particular product, I am inclined to believe that it will provide similar results as the classics like NO Xplode & Co - that kind of cosmetic pump you either love or hate.

A Scientific Approach to Bodybuilding: Measuring the Quality of Execution to Predict Hypertrophy

This post is a little different from what you normally find on this blog. This time I'd rather invite you to read a study on your own, than to summarize the main findings. The study (Ivan. 2010) was done by a group of Romanian scientists and published recently in the Body Building Science Journal. What is particular interesting about the authors' approach is that they try to capture "effective" training methods in physical/mathematical equations. The main ideas behind their quantitative analysis is the following:

Indicators for measuring the quality characteristics of exercises 

The level of quality is analyzed using the following indicators:

• the number of repetitions for each exercise;
• the number of sets included in each training program;
• the way in which the athlete executes the exercises taking into consideration the correct position in each key stage of the execution;
• the weights used for each exercise.

Based on these indicators, grades are given for each exercise like very good, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory. Based on these grades, a trainer or referee evaluates and differentiates the athletes. Depending on the deviations from the correct execution, the corresponding grade is given.

Their results confirm the concept that form is key to muscular development. The way the scientists present their data unfortunately obscures their findings.

Figure 1: Correlation between biceps size and execution indicator.

The graph in figure 1, for example, would have appeared much more impressive, if the authors had decided to present just the relevant part, i.e. y-axes values from 0.6-1.0. In that case the linear regression would have been much steeper and nobody would have hat to have a second look at the data to accept the conclusion that...

The quality of an exercise influences the obtained results. The higher the execution quality the higher the results obtained by the athlete. Based on the execution quality, an aggregated indicator was defined, that is able to estimate the growth of arm size of an athlete. This indicator is very useful for athletes in order to estimate the arm size over 1 to 6 months of training.

There are other interesting details in the study as well, so go ahead and have a look.